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<title>Golly Help: Hints and Tips</title>
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<p>
<font size=+1><b>Some useful hints and tips</b></font>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
To view a pattern file just drop it onto the Golly app or onto the
Golly window if the app is already running.
</li>
<li>
When Golly starts up it looks for scripts called
<b>golly-start.pl</b> or <b>golly-start.py</b>
in the same directory as the Golly application and then in a user-specific
data directory (see the <a href="file.html#prefs">Preferences</a> item
for the likely path on your system).
If either script is found then it is automatically executed.
</li>
<li>
Displaying the population count can cause a significant slow-down when
generating large patterns, especially when using HashLife.
If you want to generate at maximum speed then just hit ";" to hide
the status bar.  You can toggle the status bar at any time,
even in full screen mode.
</li>
<li>
Editing operations are fastest in QuickLife.
</li>
<li>
Pasting large, sparse patterns is much faster if using Or mode,
or if the current pattern is empty,
or if the paste rectangle is completely outside the current pattern edges.
</li>
<li>
The hand cursor can be used to scroll the view by clicking and dragging.
If you drag the cursor outside any view edge then scrolling will occur
continuously; ie. you don't have to move the cursor.
If the cursor is outside any corner (ie. outside two edges) then the
scrolling direction will be diagonal.
</li>
<li>
Actually, continuous scrolling also occurs if the hand cursor is dragged
onto any view edge or corner.  This allows such scrolling to occur in
full screen mode.
</li>
<li>
While dragging the mouse to make (or modify) a selection, the escape key
can be used to cancel the operation and restore the original selection.
</li>
</ul>

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